When a homeowner wishes to enclose a porch or to add a room to his or her house, a contractor is normally retained to construct the addition. The contractor usually employs standard plans and orders the necessary building materials. Once the building materials are delivered to the worksite, the contractor will bring in a construction crew to cut and shape the lumber as required and then to erect the structure under the supervision of the contractor.
The procedures used to construct a room addition or to enclose a porch are approximately the same as are used to construct a new home. Each piece of lumber is first cut to length if necessary and then is joined to adjacent members using common butt joints with nail-type fasteners. On the whole, a large degree of expertise is required of the contractor and the contractor's crew to successfully construct a housing addition.
There are a number of disadvantages associated with the construction techniques that are presently used for building house additions. Firstly, the level of expertise required is such that a typical homeowner is incapable of carrying out the construction without professional help. Secondly, the construction process is extremely time consuming and labor intensive. This is partially the result of having to cut and shape the raw lumber so that its dimensions are in accordance with that required by the plans. Lastly, the cost to build a housing addition is relatively high since no mass production techniques are involved in either the preparation of the materials or during the actual on-site construction process.
It is a first object of the invention to provide a prefabricated housing addition that does not require a significant amount of expertise to assemble. In the preferred embodiment, the walls and roof of the structure are provided in kit form and the homeowner can buy the kit and assemble it without skilled aid. This type of prefabricated unit can also be advantageously used by the professional contractor since its use allows a significant reduction in the erection time and a concommitant cost savings. In addition, the construction crew is not required to have the same level of skill as was required by the prior art building techniques.
It is a second object of the invention to provide a method of prefabricating a room structure so that the structure can be quickly assembled at the worksite. This is accomplished by precutting the lumber and the connecting joints.
A third object of the invention is to reduce the cost of a housing addition by providing a unique joint structure that lends itself to mass production and can be quickly and easily assembled at the worksite. The joint design enables a transfer of loading not found in the prior art butt joints. Once the structure is fully assembled, the joint design maintains the position of interconnected members without any looseness or bending.
The simplicity and prefabricated nature of the kit allow the homeowner to buy a room unit in kit form and thereby avoid the expense of hiring a contractor. If a contractor is retained to build the unit, a cost savings will still result due to the reduced time and skill required during the assembly process. After a contractor's crew has assembled one kit, they then have the experience to assemble future similar kits in even less time thereby bringing a modicum of mass production efficiency into the on-site construction process.